Hello, I'm 5'11", 170ish lbs. Ski in the Tahoe area. I'm back skiing after a 12 year break. Picked up the Essentials book (fantastic!) and I'm trying to break the steering habit with PMTS . I can carve a turn consistently on blues, and less consistently on blacks, (I also want to eventually get more off trail).... I currently ski K2 Apache Raiders in 174cm. Okay ski, but not conducive to learning a more pure carve technique (longish turn radius). My goal is to pick up a narrower waisted, short radius ski to improve my technique, and If I can make the time next season, I plan on attending one of the camps.
My shortlist: Head Supershape, Supershape Magnum, Icon TT80, Xenon 9.0, i.XRC 800, (can pick up the last two cheap). I eventually intend to add a more "all mountain" ski after improving my skills. Are there other skis I should consider? Are any of these not recommended (e.g. Xenon's/i.XRC). I'm staying with Heads since they seem to be the "no brainer" recommended learning ski - One problem: Heads aren't available to demo at the resorts I ski.
Any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated...